Svetlana Berezhnaya (Organist)
Svetlana Berezhnaya is one of the top five Russian organists. She is
a flamboyant musician with an individual view of the organ’s
possibilities that is totally unique to her. Many of the organist’s
transcriptions are used by musicians from other countries as an example of
stunning compositional adaptations of the works.
Svetlana Berezhnaya graduated from the Gnesins’ Academy of Music having
studied the piano and the Kazan State Conservatoire from which she
received her Master’s degree as well as training as an organist at
the Brabant Conservatoire (the Netherlands). In 1992 she received
a diploma at the Northern Palmira international festival,
in 1996 she won first prize at the All-Russian Organists’ Competition
and in 2000 she was awarded the title of Honoured Artist of Russia.
Svetlana Berezhnaya has recorded seven CDs with Pyotr Kondrashin Classical
Recordings: Romantic Organ (1997), Popular Organ (1999),
Romantics of the Past Century (2002), Organ Music Relaxation
(2002), Mysterious Russian Soul (2006), Gates to
the Rainbow (music for children, 2007) and Music of
the Light (2007). In Great Britain, Quartz Music released
the organist’s eighth CD, Serene, in 2008.
Svetlana Berezhnaya works with leading conductors and soloists
in Russia, Europe and the USA. Her partners have included such
outstanding musicians as Sergei Roldugin, Natalia Gerasimova, Lyudmila Filatova,
Elena Mirtova, Andrei Diev, Alexander Trostiansky, Elena Revich, Graf Murzha,
Elena Serdechkova, Igor Sharapov, Leo Krдmer, Bruce Polay, Mikhail Lidsky, Mark
Cheikhet and Egon Smit to name but a few. She regularly performs with
numerous acclaimed orchestras and choruses, among them the Academic
Symphony Orchestra of the St Petersburg Shostakovich Philharmonic (Honoured
Ensemble of Russia), the Academic Orchestra of the State Philharmonic
of the Mineralnye Vody Region of the Caucuses (Kislovodsk),
the State Hermitage Orchestra (St Petersburg), the Province
chamber orchestra (Naberezhnye Chelny), the Amadeus chamber
orchestra (Kislovodsk), the Krasnodar Chamber Orchestra, the St
Petersburg State Academic Cappella, the State Chamber Chorus of
the Republic of Kalmykia and the Russki Partes chamber chorus
(Moscow) among many others.
Svetlana Berezhnaya currently works at the State Philharmonic of
the Mineralnye Vody Region of the Caucuses as General Director and
organist. She frequently performs recitals throughout Russia, Ukraine,
Uzbekistan, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland,
the USA and Canada among numerous other countries.
In 2010 Svetlana Berezhnaya’s first book went on sale – Tales of
Sand Clocks, or I just Continue to Play, which consists of essays, novellas
and literary sketches illustrated by the author.
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